Daily Clips
February 28, 2018
LOCAL
Soler shows off his power with 2 HRs vs. M's
February 27, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
Junis taking nothing for granted in camp
February 27, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
Royals 14, Mariners 9: Soler's power on display in slugfest at home
February 27, 2018By Maria Torres/KC Star
A healthy Eric Skoglund set to debut in Cactus League for Royals
February 27, 2018By Maria Torres/KC Star
Ex-Royal shares story about Bo Jackson's strength: 'Damnedest thing I've ever seen'
February 27, 2018By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
NATIONAL
Players union files grievance vs. Rays, Pirates, Athletics, Marlins over revenue-sharing spending
February 27, 2018By Gabe Lacques & Jorge L. Ortiz/USA Today Sports
MLB players' anger finally boils over with grievance: 'We need questions answered'
February 27, 2018By Bob Nightengale/USA Today Sports
Lincecum heading to Rangers, could join 'pen
February 27, 2018By T.R. Sullivan/MLB.com
MLB TRANSACTIONS
February 28, 2018 •.CBSSports.com
LOCAL
Soler shows off his power with 2 HRs vs. M's
February 27, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
After two rather uneventful games, left fielder Jorge Soler put on a display of power in his third start on Tuesday, blasting two long home runs in the Royals' 14-9 victory over the Mariners at Surprise Stadium.
"I felt really good," Soler said through interpreter Luis Perez. "I've been working really hard for this."
Soler pulled a changeup well over the 350-foot sign in left in the second inning. Then, in the third, he jumped on a fastball and hit a loud home run to left-center -- it was estimated to have traveled 488 feet.
Even he had a hard time remembering the last time he hit a baseball that far.
"A long time ago," he said.
Soler, who lost 19 pounds in the offseason, also revamped his hitting setup. He now sets up with his hands closer to his body.
"I worked a lot on being quicker to the ball," he said.
Soler, who is out of options, likely will split time between left field and DH this season.
Peralta shaky in debut
It wasn't the best of spring debuts for right-hander Wily Peralta, who likely is vying for a bullpen spot after being signed as a free agent. Peralta lasted one inning and 41 pitches, giving up six runs, four earned.
Manager Ned Yost didn't seem too concerned.
"Veteran guy, first time out, just a little flat," Yost said.
Tough day in the field
Cheslor Cuthbert, trying to secure the third-base job, and Adalberto Mondesi, hoping to wedge his way onto the 25-man roster, each made errors on grounders during the Mariners' six-run first on Tuesday. Cuthbert's was on a play to his left, while Mondesi, playing shortstop, booted a grounder slightly to his right.
Camp battles
Paulo Orlando, vying for the center fielder's job, continues his torrid start. He had three more hard-hit balls, including two hits, and is 5-for-7 with three doubles.
Mondesi may have had trouble on defense, but he stayed hot at the plate, belting a long triple to right. He's now 4-for-8.
Ryan O'Hearn is maneuvering his way into the conversation at first base, where Hunter Dozier likely is the front-runner. O'Hearn hit an opposite-field home run and a double on Tuesday.
Bubba Starling, somewhat in the mix for the center-field job, belted his first home run of the spring and also showed off his athleticism by making a nice running catch in left-center.
Up next
The Royals will host the Reds on Wednesday at 2:05 p.m. CT at Surprise Stadium. Left-hander Eric Skoglund will get the start.
Junis taking nothing for granted in camp
February 27, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
Right-hander Jakob Junis knows he doesn't have a starting job locked up. But based on his rookie performance in 2017 -- 9-3, 4.30 ERA -- he certainly has built some equity in manager Ned Yost's mind.
"He has," Yost said. "He just needs to keep doing what he's doing."
Junis is taking nothing for granted. Danny Duffy, Ian Kennedy and Jason Hammel are obvious locks for the rotation. Right-hander Nathan Karns, coming off surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, likely will have another spot secured.
That leaves an open battle for the No. 5 spot among many camp contenders, including Junis, Trevor Oaks, Jesse Hahn and Wily Peralta.
Junis probably has an inside edge.
"The way I ended last season certainly gave me a lot of confidence," Junis said. "Now I've got to build on that."
Junis, 25, made his first big league start in late May and showed some flashes of his potential over the next month, then emerged as the team's best starter over the season's final two months, posting a 3.61 ERA over 10 starts.
The highlight was an Aug. 6 outing at Kauffman Stadium against the Mariners in which he went eight innings, gave up four hits and one run, walked none and struck out seven.
The starts, though, sort of mesh together in Junis' memory.
"I don't really remember one that stood out," he said. "Just taking all those experiences in was a dream come true for me."
Junis does remember his June 11 start against San Diego, perhaps the first time he showed up on many observers' radar. He went seven-plus innings and gave up three runs while striking out six in an 8-3 win. It was the first time fans got a good look at his wipeout slider.
"That was one of my first starts," he said. "I got a lot of run support. We put it on them pretty good.
"I know I went into the eighth inning that game and proved I could go deep and save the 'pen. [It was a] big step for me to show them I could do that."
Junis' goal this spring is to improve his curveball. He has changed his grip, going from a traditional hold to more of a spike curve, with his index finger dug into the ball.
"The slider still feels good," he said. "I can throw that any time I want. But I found out once I had my slider going last year, I kind of lost my curveball. So I changed grips, and I'm trying to get a little more bite on the curveball.
"That's the thing down here. There's always room for improvement. My command isn't the greatest. Secondary pitches could get better. Changeup could get better. You always want to get better."
Royals 14, Mariners 9: Soler's power on display in slugfest at home
February 27, 2018By Maria Torres/KC Star
The Royals put on a Cactus League power display with five home runs against the Mariners on Tuesday at Surprise Stadium. They won 14-9 and remained unbeaten so far this spring.
The game
An ugly first inning did not cause the Royals to shy from the Mariners, who sent a split squad here.
The Royals sent nine men to the plate in back-to-back innings. Jorge Soler, Ryan O’Hearn and Salvador Perez all clubbed at least one homer during that span.
Soler, who didn’t even log a hit in his first two starts, crushed two bombs to left field. One of them traveled about 488 feet, according to the tracking system.
“I just hadn’t seen live pitching in a long time,” Soler said in Spanish. “So you kind of don’t have that timing. But once you start seeing more pitches you start warming up.”
Through the first three innings, the Royals recorded 14 base hits and scored 12 times. Center fielder Paulo Orlando contributed two of the hits, improving his spring hitting line to 5 for 7.
Perez went 3 for 3.
The starter
Wily Peralta’s debut for the Royals was rough. He balked, allowed four earned runs and gave up a first-pitch home run. In 41 pitches, he issued a walk and allowed four hits.
“Just a little flat,” manager Ned Yost said. “There weren’t a lot of swings and misses. Chalk that up as a first outing.”
In one instance, a line drive to left field banged into the padding above the fence, a spot left fielder Soler ran past as he tracked the hit. Soler doubled back and fired a throw to Adalberto Mondesi. Two runs scored on the play.
Peralta also fell victim to errors. Third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert dropped a ground ball and couldn’t throw to first base quickly enough to beat the runner, and shortstop Mondesi did not properly field a chopper up the middle. Both mistakes resulted in unearned runs.
But the Royals bats’ promptly took Peralta, who signed with the Royals in December and is on the 40-man roster, off the hook.
“They’re down six after the first inning and just keeping in the game, staying after it, continuing to grind it out and getting back in the lead there with some great at-bats,” Yost said. “A lot of slug in there today.”
A look in the bullpen
In his first outing of the spring, Kelvin Herrera issued two walks, one of them to start the second inning. But when a line drive deflected off Herrera’s glove, second baseman Whit Merrifield was in the right place to catch it and flip the ball with his glove to Mondesi, who bare-handed it to turn an inning-ending double play.
Right-hander Kevin McCarthy, who pitched 45 innings in relief for the Royals in 2017, strung together a pair of scoreless innings in his second Cactus League appearance. McCarthy allowed a leadoff single but got two ground balls and a strikeout to end the threat in the third.
Eric Stout, a left-hander who spent 2017 at Class AAA Omaha, breezed through the fifth thanks to an inning-ending double play that erased a leadoff single. He struck out two in his two-inning appearance. But not before he lost an 0-2 count to Gordon Beckham, who waited out two balls, then yanked a pitch onto the concourse in left field for a solo homer.
Gone for extras
The Royals registered 10 extra-base hits in the first six innings.
Merrifield doubled and tripled in consecutive innings. Over three games, he’s 5 for 8 with two doubles, a triple and a home run.
All the starters but Cuthbert knocked out a base hit.
Up next
The Royals (3-0-1) host the Cincinnati Reds at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Surprise.
A healthy Eric Skoglund set to debut in Cactus League for Royals
February 27, 2018By Maria Torres/KC Star
About eight months ago, Royals pitcher Eric Skoglund strolled off the mound at Kauffman Stadium. He measured his steps, doffed his cap to the Kansas City faithful and left the field with the roar of a cheering crowd in his ears.
Skoglund had just outdueled Justin Verlander, then still a Detroit Tiger, in his late-May major-league debut. There were 6 1/3 innings of scoreless, two-hit baseball under his belt and a win in his first career appearance on the horizon. In postgame interviews, he didn’t bother to tamp down his smile.
The magic of the moment didn’t last. Skoglund struggled in his next two outings and was sent back to Class AAA Omaha to continue his development.
But the demotion wasn’t some kind of confidence-shattering ordeal. Skoglund had never pitched above Class AA until last season, when he earned an early promotion to Omaha. He was called up because the Royals needed someone to fill a rotation that had just lost Danny Duffy and Nathan Karns to injuries.
The spot starts put shortcomings into perspective.
And now that he is back in major-league spring training camp and healthy this time around, Skoglund hopes the lessons he internalized from last season’s two stints with the Royals will give him an edge in his first Cactus League appearance Wednesday afternoon at Surprise Stadium.
“I think I just put a little too much pressure on myself and tried to do too much, especially after the debut,” Skoglund said. “I think that was a big takeaway from it as well. I was just trying to do too much instead of sticking with what I am successful at.”
Skoglund is a 6-foot-7 left-hander who was drafted out of Central Florida in the third round in 2014 and is currently the eighth-best prospect in the organization per MLB.com. He already commanded his fastball, which ranges in the low-to-mids 90s, well when he signed with the Royals. He just needed to continue developing his change-up and curveball, and he’s been able to use those pitches plenty effectively throughout his minor-league career.
But newly-minted Royals pitching coach Cal Eldred has worked with Skoglund this month to stop him from flying open with his shoulder too much. The rangy Skoglund’s wingspan is so wide the path his arm takes to the plate gets long.
Cutting the path short and keeping its direction on a north-to-south plane should help Skoglund release a pitch at the best possible angle for it to hit the zone.
If he can stay as consistent with the motion in game situations as he can in practice, Skoglund might just work his way up the pitching staff depth chart this spring.
“He’s gonna be a good pitcher in the big leagues, we think,” manager Ned Yost said. “We like him. It’s just getting settled in and refining that command a little bit.”
Ex-Royal shares story about Bo Jackson's strength: 'Damnedest thing I've ever seen'
February 27, 2018By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
Hard to believe, but it's been 28 years since Bo Jackson last played for the Royals.
In the late 1980s, the "Bo Knows" commercials were everywhere as he was a breakout star for the Royals and the Oakland Raiders. For some younger people these days, the talk of Jackson's exploits may seem a bit overblown.
But there is a great tidbit about Jackson in a story by ESPN's Tim Kurkjian on the strength of baseball players. Kurkjian talked with former Royals catcher Mike Macfarlane, who was Jackson's teammate.
"Bo was a big bow hunter,'' Macfarlane told Kurkjian. "He kept his bows in his locker. He would show us how to shoot, but for him, it was like plucking a harp. He just used two fingers to cock it. I stood on top of the bow and, using both hands, tried to cock it, and I couldn't do it. And neither could anyone else on our team. I'm sure our front office wasn't happy about this, we were all afraid of tearing a rotator cuff trying to cock a bow. Bo needed two fingers. Damnedest thing I've ever seen."
That's incredible.
Macfarlane also told a story about an amazing home run that Jackson hit in the minor leagues.
NATIONAL
Players union files grievance vs. Rays, Pirates, Athletics, Marlins over revenue-sharing spending
February 27, 2018By Gabe Lacques & Jorge L. Ortiz/USA Today Sports
The Major League Baseball Players Association has filed a grievance to MLB, claiming that four teams - the Tampa Bay Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics and Miami Marlins - have not spent revenue-sharing money in the fashion intended by the collective bargaining agreement.
It's the first official salvo fired in a rancorous winter in which high-profile free agents have encountered a depressed market for their services, leaving dozens of veterans unemployed as spring training enters its third week.
MLBPA spokesman Chris Dahl confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that the grievance had been filed. It was first reported by the Tampa Bay Times.
While perhaps a dozen teams are taking a passive approach to competing this season - tanking to some, prudence to others - the Pirates, Rays, Marlins and Athletics have been perennial revenue-sharing recipients who remain in the bottom third of payrolls.
The union's complaint regards both the 2017 season and the current off-season.
"Hopefully, we’ll get to the bottom of it," Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. "It’s been disappointing to see how the off-season has played out for a lot of guys. There’s a lot of really, really good players who can help a lot of teams that are unsigned still.
"You always wonder why that is."
The Pirates and Marlins, in particular, had a hand in depressing the market for free agents by flooding the pool with trade targets this year, including former All-Stars Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, Andrew McCutchen, Gerrit Cole and dynamic outfielder Christian Yelich.
The Pirates' payroll will be around $75 million this season. They and MLB lashed out at the union's grievance as without merit.
“The MLBPA’s grievance against the Pirates is patently baseless," said Pirates president Frank Coonelly in a written statement. "We look forward to demonstrating as much to the arbitrator if the MLBPA continues to pursue this meritless claim.
"As indicated when the MLBPA first expressed its 'concern' in a press release, the Pirates have always invested its revenue sharing receipts in a manner entirely consistent with the basic agreement."